The Literature Network
Authors: 260
Books: 2,712
Poems & Short Stories: 3,817
Forum Members: 50,380
Forum Posts: 577,669
Subscribe for ad free access & additional features.
Teacher Accounts with student management and more.
Teacher Accounts with student management and more.
This Side of Paradise
(1920)
This is Fitzgerald's first novel,
previously titled
The Romantic Egoist,
published to immediate success.
~
Fan of this book? Help us introduce it to others by writing a better introduction for it. It's quick and easy, click here.
Quizzes on This Side of Paradise
No quizzes available to take yet.
Please submit a quiz here.
Recent Forum Posts on This Side of Paradise
Post a New Comment/Question on This Side of Paradise
Attention Bookworms:
Buying from Amazon.com? Check out the Amazon Coupons first so you get the best deal.
Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets!
Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time. As Seen In: USA Today "Hot Sites"
Join our Sonnet-A-Day Newsletter and read them all, one at a time. As Seen In: USA Today "Hot Sites"
My Side of Paradise...
is This Side of Paradise I'm no expert on literature, and I havn't read every classic. But I've never read a book that moved me as much as This Side of Paradise. It has slowly surpassed Pride and Prejudice as my favorite book, as it made me think intellectually more than anything else ever has. I love Amory's character, his arrogance and his pursuit of happiness struck me as the most real emotions one could describe. His relationship with the Monsignor reminded me of a similar relationship with a mentor, and I was continually intrigued by his references to becoming a Personage. Fitzgerald beautifully depicts Amory Blaine's shaky transcendence into adulthood and his honest feelings about the world. I, as some of you have previously mentioned, enjoyed This Side of Paradise much more than The Great Gatsby. I would agree though, that The Great Gatsby is perhaps a more solid book. But I think the at times irregularity of This Side of Paradise makes it that much better- the book is as real as it's subject.
Posted By Sophie Vodvarka at Thu 8 Jun 2006, 2:53 PM in This Side of Paradise || 1 Reply
No Subject
As a high school junior, I am writing a paper on the Lost Generation, of which Fitzergald was a part. I read This Side of Paradise 2 years ago and found it absolutely amazing, though it does not capture the Roaring Twenties as Gatsby does. I think any high school or college male could relate to Amory and any female could relate to experiences with guys like Amory. This was just one of the many reasons I have chosen to write a 30 page paper on this topic.
Posted By Torrie at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in This Side of Paradise || 0 Replies
amory is paradise
This is my lovely, humble opinion, that This Side of Paradise is a great literary work. Amory was the perfectly constructed bundle of contradictions. He was a bit on the shallow, narcissistic side, but insecure nevertheless. He made superficiality appealing to me. Egotism makes a comeback! Amory was arrogant, but it was at least bound to his intelligence. Somewhat.
You have to give him leeway for his erratic emotional state. He had various love losses that led to drinking. Because we all know that alcohol cures everything (note the sarcasm, please).
I'm likely to be the only person to think this was better than The Great Gatsby, which I had to write a book report/analysis thing on for my A.P. History class. Fun(again:the sarcasm.)
To sum it up, as I tend to babble, This Side of Paradise was amazing, I love Amory, he's awsome. Great plot, and has anyone seen the movie? If so, is it good?
p.s. if this seems stupid, immature, or just terrible, please take into acount that i'm a high school sophmore. thank you.
Posted By Unregistered at Wed 23 Oct 2002, 1:00 AM in This Side of Paradise || 5 Replies
No Subject
I would disagree with the person who said the book fails to capture the Roaring Twenties. All the themes of the twenties are here--the liberated woman, the tendency towards excess, etc. Remember, when this book hit the shelves women were using it virtually as a handbook. He not only captured the mind of a generation, he anticipated a movement. I think the reason this book is less well-liked than Gatsby, (other than the fact that it's not "clean" stylistically or grammatically), is because of the emotional fluctuations. It's easier to learn about the Twenties in the Great Gatsby without the meddling influence of Catholicism. Personally I like this book for more sentimental reasons--because I like to hold on to the vision of a young man pinning the chapters up to his curtains in his Minnesota home, and then quitting his job the day it was accepted for publication. All F. Scott wanted in his whole life was to be a writer, and this book carries all of his hope and youthful idealism in it.
Posted By Joy at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in This Side of Paradise || 0 Replies
Gainesville Fl.
I am recently doing a biography on Fitzgeralds writings and i injoyed this book. For anyone looking to read it, i would recomend it. I think that alot of writings people do are from their own state of mind, so who are we to criticize a work that you might not understand.
Posted By Nichole Pedrick at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in This Side of Paradise || 0 Replies
Inferior?
Yes, I found the book a bit slow, but it was worth it.
It seemed to me this book was less about the net worth of a generation, less about social understanding, and had everything to do with the education of Amory.
An interesting name to choose, also. Amory. Amo, Amore- To Love. Or the act of loving.
To presume that this book is about anything other then the main character is a vacant attempt to read the novel. It's a character study, but more importantly, it's the truth Amory comes to; Ultimately, he realizes that he is selfish, but intellegent, Loving, but lost, and all of these virtues are him. And the only thing he can do about anything is to be him, with no pretension as to anything else.
And when is self-discovery anything other than recognizing your place, your thoughts, and your ideals during your time period?
Sure, we can read this book and bring out of it a sense of Amory's generation- the American Riche of the teens and the twenties, as we could any novel of the time period. We could understanding the growth of a boy to a man, as we would any story spanning the length of a man (Or Woman's) life, but we miss the subleties of the novel if we generalize his work.
Posted By Kirstin at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in This Side of Paradise || 0 Replies
No Subject
This Side of Paradise is a wonderful book. It pertains to most young men. Armory is awesome with his egotistic attitude!!!!!! At least he makes something of himself in life. If you like drama books this is defiently one to read.
Posted By Unregistered at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in This Side of Paradise || 0 Replies
Yawnsville...
I'd have to say This Side of Paradise was a tough read for myself, not because of the wording, but because it was so dry and boring. Amory is a fellow who tends to just overanylize things -- as is exeplified by his so-called romance with Isabelle -- that are emotional. He spends half the book thinking about emotions, and really doesn't come to any real conclusions of any pertinence until the last twenty or so pages. I have a long ways to go on learing to understand underlying meaning, I'll be the first to admit that, but FSF just took too long getting this party started.
Posted By Unregistered at Thu 17 Apr 2003, 1:00 AM in This Side of Paradise || 3 Replies
Paradise?
This book appears to FSF's first wholehearted attmept to capture the voices of his generation. Who am I to say he failed? While his 1st novel does lack the profound mysticism, depth, and overwhelming power of the "Great Gatsby", this book is still a beautifully constucted web of words that to me lack nothing but the sense of finality with good old Amory. All in all worth a few days of your life to read, and to forget about all the stuff you waste your time worrying about.
Posted By Coldwater at Tue 24 May 2005, 6:07 PM in This Side of Paradise || 0 Replies
This Side is inexperienced...
and brash, and immature but it still leaves you w/ that impression that somewhere deep in yr heart, you can relate wholly to Amory and this book.
Themes? Ah, who cares but I found: egotism, the great american dream, narcissism et al.
The book seems to be a way to get pen to paper and just write about what truly mattered to FSF. It is superbly inferior to *The Great Gatsby* but then again, it's a 1st novel. Simple things like parallelism, grammar, sentence construction: all of these are either lacking or vastly unedited it appears.
So it comes off as raw and dreamy -- like something that accidentally wandered into yr bookshelf for better or worse.
I'd have to say better.
Posted By Unregistered at Thu 17 Apr 2003, 1:00 AM in This Side of Paradise || 2 Replies